Serhii Parkhomenko

Serhii Ihorovych Parkhomenko (January 14, 1997, Kharkiv —  May 14, 2022, Gulyaipole, Zaporizhzhia oblast)  was captain of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He fought  in the Russian-Ukrainian war.  He was awarded Hero of Ukraine in 2022, posthumously.

 Biography 
He was born on January 14, 1997 in the city of Kharkiv, in a family of military aviators. Since childhood, he dreamed of the sky and wanted to connect his life with aviation. He graduated from the Ivan Bohun Kyiv Military Lyceum.

At the time when his father Ihor Parkhomenko was performing combat missions in the air during the war with Russian proxyes in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Serhiy entered the flight faculty of the Ivan Kozhedub National Technical University. He successfully graduated in 2019 with the qualification of a 3rd class pilot.

Following the example of his father and grandfather, Serhii expressed a desire to serve in the tactical aviation brigade named after Lieutenant General Vasyl Nikiforov and to fly Su-25 aircraft. Despite his young age, at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he already held the position of commander of the aviation unit. Since the first day of repelling the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he carried out 38 sorties in difficult conditions with enemy air defense and fighter aircraft. He destroyed more than 20 enemy tanks, more than 50 armored combat vehicles, 55 vehicles, 20 fuel tanks and several hundred soldiers and officers of the Rashists.

For the courage and patriotism shown during the defense of the Motherland against Russian aggression, by Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 292/2022 dated May 2, 2022 he was awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky III Class.

On May 14, 2022, Captain Serhiy Parkhomenko died heroically while performing a combat mission in the Zaporizhzhia region near the city of Gulyaipole.

Since the hostilities were going on in the region where Serhiy came from, he was buried on May 18, 2022 in Vinnytsia.

He was survived by his parents, wife and son, who was born in March 2022.

 Awards 

 the title of Hero of Ukraine with the award of the «Golden Star» order (May 20, 2022, posthumously) — for personal courage and heroism, shown in the defense of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath.
 Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi III Class (May 2, 2022) — for personal courage and selfless actions shown in the defense of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath.Указ Президента України № 292/2022 від 2 травня 2022 року «Про відзначення державними нагородами України»

 Notes 

 Sources 

 Anastasia Olekhnovich, Two months before his death, Hero of Ukraine Serhiy Parkhomenko became a father… // ArmiyaInform. — 2022. — May 21.

Category:1997 births
Category:2022 deaths
Category:Ukrainian military people